One genre of video games is known as “shooter” games, in which players engage in forms of combat using various weapons. Within the shooter genre, the game may be developed in a first person context, in which the player views the scenes through the eyes of the shooter. Alternatively, the game may be architected in a third person context, where the player views the scenes from a camera viewpoint removed from each character.
Some shooter games enable the player to control squads of characters, rather than just a single character. The player can give an order to a selected character of the squad, and that character carries out the orders without direct intervention from the player. Representative squad-based games include Project Eden, which is developed by Core Design Ltd. and published by Eidos Interactive for Sony's Playstation® game system, and X-Squad, which is developed and published by Electronic Arts for Sony's Playstation® game console.
It is common for squad-based, third-person shooter games to support a single player or multiple players. Conventionally, the number of players must be specified in advance of starting the game. This is not conducive, however, to situations where the number of players changes throughout the game. For instance, suppose one player begins a game and one or more additional players want to join midway through the game. Then, at a later point, a different player wants to leave the game before it is over. In such situations, conventional shooter games require that the existing players stop and save the game, return to a setup menu and specify the new number of player(s), and then restart the game. This process is disruptive to the players.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques for adding and removing players while the game is in process, without disrupting game play.